Wednesday, 30 March 2016

31 March 2016

I have had one or
two fractious media interviews of late on aspects of New Zealand’s drug policy.
I am not especially proud of that, because my normal demeanour is much more
considered and self-disciplined. My plea in mitigation is that my contrariness
has been a reflection of my frustration that, for various reasons, the points I
was seeking to make have been misunderstood.

I was reminded of
all this again this week, when, following a Morning Report interview on the
same subject, the media suddenly seemed convinced I had undergone some
remarkable conversion and was now advocating a bold, new approach to drug
policy, completely out of character with what many of them had long imagined
erroneously and in some cases maliciously to be my views, and for which many
had pilloried me for years.

Only a few
journalists were astute enough to recall that my now apparently radical new
calls for drug policy to be based on the principles of compassion, innovation
and proportion were in fact a repetition of what I had been saying consistently
for some time, most notably, but by no means exclusively, at the United Nations
Conventions on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna this time last year. Some even
recalled accurately that these same principles underpinned the National Drug
Policy I released on behalf of the government last August.

I was simply too
stunned by the media volte-face to be grumpy. Indeed, I was literally
gobsmacked as to why my message of steady, considered reform that they in their
ignorance had sneered at and ridiculed for so long had suddenly become
mainstream. It said a lot to me about how shallow so many of they are.

The reason for
this turnaround is, I suggest, that drug policy has many levels to it, and it
is thus inherently more complex and nuanced than many of them can or want to understand.
For some, drug policy is no more than a loud and selfish focus on being able to
get their drug of choice when they want it, no matter the consequences or
accepted legal norms. For others, drug policy is more specific – access to
products that may have a medicinal benefit, for example. Still others see drug
policy as no more than cannabis policy.

However, sensible
drug policy is multi-faceted, and pays no heed to the extremes. It is about
controlling the manufacture and distribution of dangerous substances, and the
criminals behind the trade, so it has obvious legal connections; but it is also
about the innocent victims and those who suffer from the misuse of drugs,
requiring an effective and strong health focus. Above all, sensible drug policy
is about a prudent and balanced response. It should address the supply and
distribution issues through the law, as well as ensuring good health services
are available to assist those suffering from the misuse of drugs. That is the
compassion prong.

But sensible drug
policy is also about having an appropriate focus. The steps we take to deal
with those who manufacture and distribute drugs illegally will be quite
different from those we promote to deal with those affected by them. At the
same time, we cannot cause more problems than we resolve. That is the
proportion prong.

And because this
is a dynamic and changing environment, we will also need to be flexible and
open to new ways of dealing with emerging problems, like for instance our
approach to the psychoactive substances issue. That is the innovation prong.

The war on drugs
has been an abject failure. Its rhetoric and approach belonged to a bygone era.
Focusing New Zealand’s drug policy on a health centred approach places us
firmly in the international mainstream of contemporary drug policy. The
recharting of our course in recent years has been as deliberate as it has been
subtle. It is no accident, but a conscious recognition of both the deficiencies
in previous policy and what is achievable and sustainable in the current
political social and political environment. I have purposely ignored the
extremists, and I make no apology for that.

Next month I will
lead New Zealand’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Special
Session on drugs in New York. I will be promoting our National Drug Policy
there, and expecting to be well-received, as we work with like-minded countries
to produce sensible outcomes for the future. I will be proud, not grumpy nor
irascible, to see the values of compassion, innovation, and proportion at the
forefront of our deliberations.